Strategy

A plan is not a strategy by Roger Martin on HBR Youtube Channel.

Strategy – An integrative set of choices that positions you on a playing field of your choice in a way that you win.

Strategy has a theory:

• here is why we should be in this playing field and not the other one.
• and here is how on that playing field, we’re going to be better than anybody else at serving customers on that playing field.
• that theory has to be coherent.
• it has to be doable.

In contrast,

• Planning does not have to be coherent. This often leads to “Playing for Playing”.
• Planning is comforting
• Planning is usually about costs

Strategy Specifies A Competitive Outcome that customers want to buy.

The tricky thing is you do not control the customers, which makes strategy difficult than planning.

You cannot guarantee Strategy in advance, you cannot prove a strategy in advance.

A good strategy has these four things:

1. Here’s where we are choosing to play
2. Here’s how we are choosing to win
3. Here are the capabilities we need to have in place
4. Here are the management systems